Edward Carlyle Savory
6TH JUNE
Honouring my Great-Uncle, Edward Carlyle Savory, who was in the US 29th Division Artillery HQ Bty on D-Day, arriving on Omaha Beach at 14:10 hours on the afternoon of 6th June.
After the war, Uncle Eddie married my Great-Aunt, Eileen Geake, having met her in Tavistock, Devon, where he had been stationed for some time before crossing the Channel.
General Eisenhower inspecting the US troops in front of St Eustachius Church in Tavistock
Following on from a previous post where I explained that my patrilineal line doesn’t match the Hibbitt haplogroup, I am now giving an update for those called Hibbitt or a variant of the name.
We now have four people called either Hibbitt, Hibbett or Hibbit sharing the Z2534 haplogroup. At least two descend from John Hybot and Ann Tubbs who married in Exton, Rutland, in 1732, through their son, Matthew, who married Frances Penruddock. A third person could either descend from Matthew and Frances or Matthew’s brother, William, who married Elizabeth Skillet. Either way, John Hybot and Ann Tubbs would be this person’s forebears too.
The final Z2534 result came from a descendant of a John Hibbit who married Mary Toft in London in 1770. This then, would point to a connection back to either John Hybot or, quite probably, an ancestor of his, how far back we cannot know without specific Y-DNA testing.
Three of the results were obtained when testers ran their AncestryDNA raw data files through the Morley Y-SNP Subclade Predictor Tool at
https://ytree.morleydna.com/extractFromAutosomal
The fourth person in this Z2534 group tested with Living DNA which gave a more recent haplogroup than Z2534. The haplogroup was Z2189. The R Z2534 DNA project suggests that the people they have in their project who are positive for the Z2189 SNP have Iberian ancestry.
The Ancestry and Living DNA tests are not dedicated Y DNA tests, instead they are autosomal DNA tests with a small amount of Y-DNA data included. The YTree at YFull shows various testers who’ve taken the Big Y test at FTDNA or similar and who come under Z2534: https://www.yfull.com/tree/R-Z2534/. The ancestry of those in the Z2189 group includes places such as Spain, Portugal, Mexico and Puerto Rico. It’s curious then, how the Hybot family came to be in England but it needs to be noted that the Z2189 haplogroup was formed about 4000 years ago.
The R Z2189 Haplogroup on the YTree as at April 2019
(UPDATE June 2025: there are now many more men appearing on this branch of the YTree.)
If anyone in the Hibbitt etc. group was to take a Big Y test and upload to YFull, it would be interesting to see whether they were a match to any of the existing subclades of Z2189 or whether they would eventually form a brand new branch if a closer DNA match also tested.
As for my line, with every result that comes in at Z2534, it confirms that I am not a ‘real’ Hibbitt after all. My Dad’s haplogroup is Z36747 which separated from the Z2534 haplogroup at DF13, which is a couple of clades above Z2534, and therefore further back in time. I still have no idea what my maiden name should have been but I believe that it’s either my great-grandfather or his father who had a father who wasn’t a Hibbitt. This is contrary to what the records say so no clues so far.
[UPDATE June 2025: having taken a fresh look at the Hibbert DNA Project’s Y-DNA Results, I notice there are two people in the project called Hibbert who also have a haplogroup of Z2189 so it would seem the names are linked. The project is currently looking for an administrator.]
Ancestry has recently completed its Irish ethnicity regions update and now offers 92 distinct regions in Ireland. This has resulted in my being able to identify some areas on my maternal grandfather’s side (William Hellyer Geake). My mum, aunt and two of their first cousins have tested at Ancestry and here are the findings.
My Mum’s Irish Ethnicity Results
My Aunt’s Irish Ethnicity Results
Cousin 1’s Irish Ethnicity Results
Cousin 2’s Irish Ethnicity Results
Note: The Scottish connection is because Cousin 2’s mother was Scottish
Here are maps of the regions:
Connacht with sub-regions of North East Mayo & North West Sligo, North Connacht and North Mayo
Central Ireland with sub-regions of North Leinster & East Connacht and North Leitrim & East Sligo
The region known as North East Mayo & North West Sligo shows up in all of the cousins’ results and yet I cannot trace an ancestor from this region. The only Irish connection I have is currently tenuous – one of the cousins’ mutual great-grandmothers married their great-grandfather in Shanagolden, Limerick, in 1871. Her maiden name might have been Burgoyne or Congdon and I cannot be certain that she was definitely Irish. Her husband, John Gale Hellier, was in the Royal Navy and was from Tavistock in Devon –
www.hibbitt.org.uk/familytree/fam1847.html.
It’s remarkable that such a lot of Irish DNA has filtered down through the generations considering the three other shared great-grandparents were all Devonians and having only Devon ancestry going further back in time. The cousins’ other known family lines do not involve Ireland and so it cannot be easily explained.
[Please see the updated information below as the facts have changed.]
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[UPDATE June 2025: through DNA, I have since learned that my great-grandfather, James Geake, was not the son of his recorded parents and that he had strong genetic ties to Sligo in Ireland. The mystery continues but the surname Kilmartin/Gilmartin from that area crops up numerous times amongst our family’s DNA matches. Read about the DNA discovery here.
Later research, backed up by DNA, revealed that Mary Ann was the daughter of James Condon/Congdon and Louisa Reed. William George Henry Burgoyne was her step-father. Mary Ann’s maternal grandparents appear to have originated from Ireland, perhaps from the Cork area. More on this here.]
3RD DECEMBER
100 years ago today, Harvey’s Grandad’s award of the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) was announced in the London Gazette as follows…
14320 SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 3 DECEMBER, 1918
AWARDED THE DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS.
Lieut. Cyril Norman Ellen.
(Sea Patrol, MEDITERRANEAN)
A keen and exceptionally able observer who for over a year has performed most valuable service in photographic flights at low altitudes and at times under very difficult conditions.
London Gazette Issue 31046 Supplement Page 14320
Publication date: 29 November 1918
Cyril Ellen was stationed in Stavros on the border between Greece and Bulgaria from November 1917 to November 1918. His profession in civilian life had been in photography and this is perhaps why he was so good at his job. The ‘very difficult conditions’ included some hairy moments. His pilot on one occasion, Frank Marlowe, wrote in his diary on 14th July 1918…
A near disaster for me this morning on dawn patrol. Just as I was taking off the engine revs dropped, there was vibration and nasty noises coming from the engine and I immediately throttled down. Then I saw that I was approaching the end of the aerodrome where I would crash into ditches, wooden buildings, etc and my only chance was to try to lift over them and try to land among scrub and bushes on the other side. I gingerly opened up the engine and in spite of the awful clattering noise it kept going enough to get me off the ground and keep me up while I made a wide sweep just above the surface of the sea and back to the aerodrome where I landed with a sigh of relief. Ellen, behind me, had the wind up badly and so did I. Everyone had turned out of their beds awakened by the noise my engine was making and they all thought it would end in a crash. I then took Jakie’s DH4 instead which ran perfectly. Slater says he can do nothing with the engine and it will have to be sent to Mudros.
And again, Marlowe’s diary entry for 26th May 1918…
While spotting with Ellen yesterday for a monitor shelling enemy gun positions we flew through the smoke of an A/A explosion and while I was doing ‘evasive action’ Ellen nearly fell out. He had to hold on to his gun mounting to save himself. I suppose you can overdo things.
On another occasion Cyril was in the air with Marlowe on the day the pilot wrote…
Just as I was leaving to do some spotting over the lines Dunfee, who was to have come with me in his Camel sideslipped into the ground after taking off when his engine failed. He was killed instantly. I carry on and do the spotting for the monitor M22 shelling gun positions. Saw Dunfee’s Camel when we got back – a horrible sight with blood and brains spread all over the wreckage.
These young men were literally taking their lives into their hands every time they attempted to fly and that was even before they got down to the task in hand. They were very brave people indeed.
THE DFC
The Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers, and since 1993 to other ranks, of the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for “an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy”.
The award was established on 3 June 1918, shortly after the formation of the Royal Air Force (RAF), with the Royal Warrant published on 5 December 1919. It was originally awarded to RAF commissioned and warrant officers, including officers in Commonwealth and allied forces.
Since the 1993 review of the honours system as part of the drive to remove distinctions of rank in bravery awards, all ranks of all arms of the Armed Forces have been eligible, and the Distinguished Flying Medal, which had until then been awarded to other ranks, was discontinued.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distinguished_Flying_Cross_(United_Kingdom)
There were 1045 DFC’s issued for World War 1 compared to more than 20,000 issued for World War 2, a reflection of how the air force had grown in that time.
Hibbitt Family – 1968
8TH OCTOBER
My Grandpa Hibbitt (Charles George Hibbitt) died this day in 1972. I was nine years old and I remember the last time I saw him when I waved goodbye to him in the hospital. Instinctively, I remember thinking this would be the last time I would see him and I was right. He was so weak and frail standing there in his red dressing gown waving to his family. He must have felt so sad.
The photo is of him in happier times with my Gran, my Dad, my elder brother and me outside my grandparents’ cottage in East Allington, Devon. Taken on my fifth birthday.
